How do I hire a real estate agent to sell my home?
It’s not a difficult process but one that does take some time and effort on your part. You need to interview some realtors to find out who the right fit is for you. Don’t just pick the first person who happens to be standing next to you. We come to the table with different experiences, beliefs, systems, negotiating skills and marketing. It may look at times like we are all the same but I assure you that we are not. This doesn’t have to be a hard process so don’t make it one. All you’re trying to do is locate the person who you think will best represent you in the sale of your home. I’ve always been a big believer that you need to be able to bond with someone before you can do business with them. This goes well beyond real estate into many different areas of your life. I have a very extensive list of questions that I would love to cover when I sit down and meet with a seller for the first time. It helps me to also find out if I’m the right person for the job. Today however I want to cover five of the most important questions that you should be asking.

How long have you been a licensed agent? Are you full time?

The purpose for this question is to determine the level of commitment the real estate agent has to their business. You’re looking for a real estate agent who has they would say in sports is a student of the game. Meaning somebody who is committed to their craft and is continually trying to improve themselves. You may ask yourself why would this be important? Because as a real estate agent things are changing on a daily basis and I have to be prepared to work with inside of new technologies as well as be updated on all form changes, rule changes and laws. It’s my belief that if you work a full-time job in only sell houses on the weekends you can’t keep up. Things in this industry have changed too much to be able to do that anymore. I’ve been a licensed real estate agent for 11 years and I’ve seen the seller’s disclosure statement go from three pages to nine pages in that amount of time. That’s just one document. Buyers demand instant contact. So as a real estate agent I have to be available to them to answer their questions when they contact me. If I’m not there because I’m working another job, they will just go to somebody else.

What is your definition of full service?

This is the most overused term in real estate today. I believe most real estate agents have no clue what it means but it sounds really good so the use it all the time. So ask them what are your thoughts on this? I believe full service includes several different things from marketing of your home to negotiating the purchase agreement. That’s usually where it stops with most realtors but there’s a whole other piece to this puzzle. That would be the role of coordinator. It is my job to not only follow-up with you and assist you but it’s also my job to make sure that I get you to the closing table on time. Once you have a purchase agreement and your home is technically sold my job is only half over. I have to be able to coordinate with all the other people that are involved in the sale of your home to make sure that everything goes smoothly throughout the entire transaction. This doesn’t just happen accidentally. It takes a real estate agent with a system to make sure that everybody is able to complete their job.

How do you track your web hits? How many hits does your website receive?

The reason for asking this question is twofold. First you want to determine does this real estate agent your interviewing even have a website? And secondly how do they gather all of the inquiries and leads that they receive? I want to point out that a page inside of a large companies website is nothing more than a page. It is not a website so if you have someone telling you that they have a website that is nothing more than a page on their companies website, that should tell you everything you need to know about their experience with the Internet. You’re looking for someone that understands how the Internet works. All real estate agents should have their very own website. Along with that website they should have a lead generation system and a way to promote your home specifically to a targeted market of home buyers in your area.

When you have a buyer lead, how do you follow up?

You are looking to hear how they follow-up with different leads that come into them through the Internet. Home buyers are very savvy with technology and as a real estate agent I have to stay at least one step ahead of them which is not easy. This part of the business is literally changing every single day. You have to be able to weed through all of the different options and applications to find the ones that actually have value to your clients. Case in point if you have someone sitting in front of you telling you how wonderful QR codes are, they probably don’t understand technology either. This was a flash in the pan idea that works great if you’re shopping at Target to compare prices on an item but it doesn’t really work for homes. You have to feel comfortable that this agent will do everything in their power to follow-up with each and every lead on your home as quickly as they possibly can. It can truly make the difference between that buyer seeing in purchasing your home versus moving on to another property.

After the first 30 days, what next? How do you keep the listing fresh?

This is the hardest question to answer for most real estate agents. Even in this market with home selling quickly you can assume that it will happen that way for your house. So this goes back to having a marketing plan and understanding how to use technology to continue to keep your home looking fresh on the market and in front of those potential buyers. There are new home buyers entering the market every day. It’s human nature to want to look at the newest latest listings so how do you get those brand-new buyers to see your home if it’s been on the market for 30+ days? This is the art of marketing your home. There are so many more things that I can do is a real estate agent that do not require a price reduction. Most agents go right to that and say well we don’t have the home sold yet so we got it lower the price. That may be true in some cases but not in all of them.

Hopefully this was a helpful blog for you to read that will encourage you to think twice before you hire a real estate agent to handle what could very well be the largest investment of your life. We are all different and as a seller you want to be aware of this so you are able to find the right agent for you. As always I welcome all of your questions and comments.

Home Seller Tips-  3 Reasons to list and sell your home now!

By now many of you probably know that the real estate market has taken quite a turn in the last six months. Prices are up, inventory is down and buyers are in a panic! All of this is fantastic news if you’re someone who is thinking about listing and selling your home. Over the last four years the market hasn’t been the best for selling your home if you’re one of the many homeowners who owe more than your home is worth. That is now changing because of the recent increase in value that we’ve experienced in the Minneapolis-St. Paul real estate market. I have seen values rise 10 to 15% in just the last six months. In some areas of the city even more. Many of you that are reading this will probably be thinking to yourself this is being written by a real estate agent, there never can it tell you it’s a bad time to sell. There’s some truth to that but the market has really shifted. There are three main reasons why now is a great time to sell. Think of it like getting in on a stock before it takes off and starts to level. I’m trying to share with you the latest information that I have of what’s going on in the market. Many media outlets are not completely tuned into this yet so some of what I’m sharing with you now you will start to see more reporting on in the coming months.

Lack of competition
This is always a great thing because it works to a sellers advantage. In the last month 75% of the new listings were traditional sales. We’ve seen a pretty sharp decline in short sales and foreclosures. This is another clue that the market is improving. In March 2012 we had over 18,000 listings for sale. Same time this year the numbers were a little over 12,000 listings. So that is a 31% drop in the last year of available homes for sale. Many have just given up and some have decided to stay in improve their homes. Whatever the reason the lack of quality listings on the market have pushed values up much quicker than any of us had expected.

Quicker sale
This can be a motivating factor for sellers especially if you’re one who tried to sell your house a few years ago when the market was different. Many sellers got frustrated by the lack of showings or the lack of interest by the buyers. Buyers felt they had all the time in the world to make a decision. Guess what? The buyers no longer feel this way. Now most of them are in a panic trying to figure out what to do. In many different price ranges and areas of the city we are seeing multiple offers now. There’s a whole group of buyers that are just sitting and waiting for new homes to come on the market. Many of them have lost out in multiple offers, some more than once. So were seeing a surge of activity on new listings within the first 48 hours. All of that activity is leading to multiple offers.

Get a higher price for your home
All of this activity in the market along with the multiple offers is leading to higher prices for the sellers. I am now able to help put more money into your pocket then even six months ago. The key is to ask now before we get a huge surge of listings on the market that balances everything out. Were also starting to see some of the sellers who are already benefiting from this market with their homes pending in closing at higher prices. This is a really important factor because it helps me to price your home higher with confidence because I know that we can get it to appraise for a higher sale price. A year ago not so much.

Some of the other factors that can also help you as a seller if you are looking to turn around and buy a new home is the interest rates which are still at historic lows. Combine that with your house being sold and you as a buyer being able to be completely non-contingent, that also strengthens an offer that you make on the home you’re moving to. Plus as you buy up the competition slows down a bit. Everybody situation is different so you have to take a look at your bottom line along with what it would take to get you and your new home. After looking over all that information you may be pleasantly surprised at what a great opportunity this real estate market can be for you. If you’re looking to get an accurate value on your home go to www.TheHouseWidget.com and fill out the form. I will be happy to follow-up with you and answer all of your questions.

5 must ask questions when hiring a real estate agent to sell your home

If you’re a homeowner thinking about selling this year you already know there is a long list of things that need to be done before you can put your home on the market. One of the things on that list will be interviewing realtors to find one that can list and sell your home. This task seems to be one of the harder ones for most sellers. To make this process a little bit easier I’ve got five must ask questions to share with you. My list is considerably longer than that but I chose the top five.

How do you plan to market my home versus other agents?
You have to ask yourself what kind of agent do you want? What you are looking for with this question is the agents perspective on how to sell your home. Some agents are old-school traditional agents that believe in a lot of outdated concepts like ads in the newspaper. Other agents like myself are cutting edge agents embracing all of the technology to improve the marketability of your home. As the buyers needs change so must the actions of a real estate agent. There’s a lot more to it than just saying I’m on Facebook! That means nothing if you don’t understand how to use Facebook as a vehicle to drive traffic to your listings. So find out what’s their philosophy how are they can a market your home and make your home stand out over all the competition.

How long have you been a licensed agent and are you full time?
This is a big one because you want to know that you dealing with a professional who views this as a career and not a second job. I can tell you from experience that buyers expect to hear back from you immediately. If the agent is in there to answer the phone the buyer will move on to somebody else. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to get a hold of an agent who can’t talk to you till after 5 o’clock because they’re working their day job. Were talking about dealing with potentially the biggest investment of your life don’t leave it was someone who’s a part timer.

What is your definition of “full-service”?
The term “full-service”gets thrown around way too much in our industry. Most agents have no clue what it even means they just know it sounds good. You have to challenge them to explain to you what that means to them. There is no right or wrong answers just different perspective on the term. You’ll find out in pretty short order the commitment level of the agent that you’re interviewing. Challenge them to show you what “full-service” means. I have a 90+ point marketing plan that goes into effect the day I list your home. This encompasses everything from marketing of your home to negotiation and follow through to closing.

After the first 30 days, what’s next. How do you keep my listing fresh?
This question stumps a lot of real estate agents because quite frankly after 30 days they don’t know what else to do. This is when they start asking you to lower the price on the home without any proof. There are dozens of tasks that can be performed after the first 30 days to work to continue to make your house still stand out against the competition. This goes back to the earlier point of technology and understanding how to change and work with inside of the technology we are given. You’ve got to know as a seller that if it takes longer than 30 days to get your home sold that the agent is still going to be working on getting your home sold and not just moving on to the next thing.

What commission percentage do you charge and how much goes to the buyer broker and buyer’s agent?
When you list your home for sale you pay a commission. Most people ask the agent what that fee is but what most don’t ask is how much of that is actually going to the buyer’s agent and their company. Everything is negotiable you just want to know where you stand and have a clear idea of how that commission is being divided.

There are a lot more questions that you should be asking before you make a determination as to who the right agent is for you. These are the top five to help get you started. It’s my opinion as a professional real estate agent that you’re looking for somebody that has a system in place to get your home sold. An agent that understands marketing, technology, negotiation and follow through. The agents who have a complete system have a better chance of getting your home sold. Equally important you need to choose someone who you trust and feel comfortable with because at the end of the day you have to be able to communicate with that agent.